[nfbmi-talk] sound like mcb to me

joe harcz Comcast joeharcz at comcast.net
Sun Nov 20 14:49:40 UTC 2011


State agency told disabled it had no money while building $34 million surplus

By SCOTT DAUGHERTY, Staff Writer

By SCOTT DAUGHERTY, Staff Writer

Capital Gazette Communications

Published 11/20/11

 

For more than two years, Heidi Berlin and her husband, Dan, have fought state bureaucracy while seeking help for their developmentally disabled son.

 Courtesy photo Heidi and Dan Berlin hold their 4-year-old son, Adam, who has developmental disabilities. The Edgewater family is on a waiting list with

the state’s Developmental Disabilities Administration, which recently returned $25 million in unspent money to the state.

 

And for more than two years, officials have told the Edgewater couple there isn't enough money in state coffers.

 

So the Berlins were shocked to learn this month that over the past two years the Developmental Disabilities Administration hadn't spent at least $34 million

intended to help people with disabilities - and actually returned more than $25 million to the state's General Fund.

 

"We live in a very depressing world," Heidi Berlin said Thursday morning after a particularly long night caring for her 4-year-old son, Adam. "But this

was a real slap in the face. ... They could have helped us, but they gave the money away."

 

The new director of the administration, which has a waiting list of more than 6,600 people in the state and 427 in the county, said last week his predecessor

should never have left money on the table.

 

"We were all appalled this happened, especially while we have waiting lists," said Frank Kirkland, who took over the agency in August after the forced resignation

of Michael Chapman.

 

Del. Theodore J. Sophocleus, D-Linthicum, a member of the House's Appropriations Committee, agreed.

 

"It's very disconcerting to see something like this," said Sophocleus, adding that he hopes the legislature will be able to return the $25 million to the

agency next year.

 

"We need to start taking care of these (waiting) lists. ... Those people shouldn't be penalized (for what happened)," he said.

 

A spokeswoman said the Developmental Disabilities Administration serves about 22,000 people. It operates on a nearly $840 million annual budget, including

about $498 million from the state and $342 from the federal government. As a result of the state's new 9 percent alcohol sales tax, the agency received

a $15 million boost this year.

 

Kirkland didn't know why the agency didn't spend the $34.5 million. He said it came to light over the summer as his agency closed its books on fiscal 2011

- which ended June 30.

 

An investigation is under way by the inspector general of the state's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and a private consultant. Preliminarily, Kirkland

said it doesn't appear anything criminal occurred.

 

"It just seems to have probably been poor business practices," Kirkland said.

 

According to an Oct. 28 letter from DHMH Secretary Joshua Sharfstein to legislative leaders, the surplus was the result of the "inappropriate charging"

of fiscal 2011 expenditures to the previous fiscal year. When officials corrected the error, the agency first believed it ended fiscal 2010 with a $25.7

million surplus and fiscal 2011 with a $12.6 million surplus.

 

Upon further review, the agency determined the fiscal 2011 surplus to be only $8.8 million.

 

The agency was able to forward the $8.8 million into its fiscal 2012 budget, but had to forfeit the $25.7 million under state accounting rules, officials

said.

 

"The underlying problem appears to relate to challenges in the budgeting and payment process in the DDA program, dating back several years," Sharfstein

wrote in his letter. "We are hiring new fiscal personnel, reassessing our current budgeting process, and developing plans for an upgraded accounting system."

 

Agency staffers are working to set up a town hall meeting with various disability advocates and community members to discuss the best way to use the $8.8

million, Kirkland said.

 

Some argue it should be divided into small amounts of $5,000 or $10,000 to help families with respite care and insurance co-pays.

 

Others argue the money should be used to pay for more serious cases, where a person needs 24-hour residential care. Such cases can cost $100,000 a year,

he said.

 

Heidi Berlin said she wasn't hoping for much. She just wanted help paying for some of her son's special nutrition shakes and a few hours of respite care.

 

"Just enough so I could maybe sleep on occasion," she said.

 

After he was born, her son was diagnosed with Menkes, a rare genetic defect that prevents the body from absorbing copper. As a result, Adam is unable to

walk, sit up or feed himself. He regularly has seizures and is allergic to sunlight.

 

"It's a 24-hour-a-day job to care for him. And I have a regular job," said Berlin, who has worked for nine years for The Arc of the Central Chesapeake Region

- an advocacy group for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

 

"We could really use some help," she said.

Copyright © Capital Gazette Communications LLC, 2011.

 

State agency told disabled it had no money while building $34 million surplus • Top Stories (www.HometownAnnapolis.com - The Capital)

 

http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/top/2011/11/20-48/State-agency-told-disabled-it-had-no-money-while-building-34-million-surplus.html



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